Book-of-the-Week

Book of the Week: Chrysanthemum Love

aoyagi_love

Fay Aoyagi’s first collection of haiku, from her own Blue Willow Press in 2003, was like a breath of fresh air, mingling wafts of old and modern Japan among the zephyrs of Northern California.

You can read the entire book in the THF Digital Library.

All haiku in the Book of the Week Archive are selected by Tom Clausen, and are used with permission.

yellow daffodils
 an urge to
 buy a banjo
intact zero fighter
 at the Smithsonian-
 cherry blossom rain
a winter butterfly-
 my first marriage
 in the jewelry box
Nagasaki Anniversary
 I push
 the mute button
August waves
 I tell my story
 to jellyfish
cold rain-
 my application
 to become a crab
overslept
 I blame the quietness
 of rain
my high wire act
 for you
 and this moon
going Dutch
 for the omelettes
 and this sea breeze
a new summer hat
 she may be out 
 of love
tadpoles with legs-
 I assure him there's no need
 to leave his wife
Independence Day
 I let him touch
 a little bit of me
unexpected pregnancy
 she spits out
 watermelon seeds

This Post Has 5 Comments

  2. Aoyagi-san’s haiku always seem to open the door to a new way of seeing…

    -Patrick

  3. I’m so glad this book is being highlighted. An extremely important book for the development of modern haiku and well spotted by Bill Higginson who used the method of a review to bring this to our attention.

    A wonderful book, one I often delve back into, whether I hit a writing void, or the reverse.

    An utter delight of poetry.

    Alan

  5. There are certain books that as a writer help you to move forward into unforeseen possibility. This is one of those books. It taught me another way of thinking about haiku. William J. Higginson gave the book a strong review:

    http://modernhaiku.org/bookreviews/Aoyagi2004.html

    And David Lanoue, current President of the HSA, wrote a wonderful essay on Aoyagi for a 2009 issue of Modern Haiku:

    http://modernhaiku.org/essays/Lanoue-FayAoyagiHaiku.html

    Her books should be on the shelves of all haiku writers.

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